The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for authenticating objects.
Every year, the sale of counterfeited goods is responsible for tens of millions of dollars in losses for U.S. and foreign companies. Goods, such as food products, consumer products, textiles and other items, are produced illegally by counterfeit operations that then sell them on the black market. These counterfeit goods may be passed along to legitimate retailers as goods originating from the known manufacturer even though they are false. Many companies have attempted to solve this problem by spot checking supplies/inventories of goods that have made their way into the hands of legitimate retailers. Nonetheless, these attempts have not been successful in stopping the problem because it is often impractical to check large volumes of goods that may be stored in a given warehouse, for example.